A Wagga man was left covered in his own blood on the side of the road in Junee after what he described as a "hateful attack" on his sexuality.
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Travis Bridle, 25, was in Junee on Saturday night to celebrate the 70th birthday of his friend's grandmother.
It was there, outside the Red Cow Hotel, where Mr Bridle was king hit and repeatedly punched, kicked and verbally abused.
"They took my phone so I couldn't call for help and yelled things out like 'Who are you going to call now, pretty boy f****t?'," Mr Bridle said.
Mr Bridle said he had stepped outside to call his mother about 10pm when he saw two young men walking down the street towards him.
"I kept my head down and started walking back towards the venue, then one of them came up and king hit me from the side," he said.
"It was totally unprovoked, came out of nowhere, and that's when they took my phone as I fell into a storm water type gully.
"I got back up onto the road and was just in shock, I remember looking at him and thinking 'why?'."
The two attackers began saying derogatory comments to Mr Bridle, followed by more punches to his face.
"I dropped pretty quick to the ground and that's when he started kicking me in the face too," he said.
Mr Bridle identified the men as being in their early 20s, but had not seen them earlier in the night at the venue nor knew them from prior dealings.
After the men left, Mr Bridle managed to get himself up and back inside the venue for help.
"I was laying face down in the corner of the road and something waved over me to say that if a car comes around this corner, that will be the end of me," he said.
"So I pulled myself up and got back inside, then the whole venue just went into chaos, people I didn't even know took off down the street to try and find these men."
Mr Bridle was taken to Wagga Base Hospital in an ambulance and while CT scans were performed, doctors did not find any signs of broken bones or damage to his brain.
"I was so lucky that after all of this, nothing was seriously injured," Mr Bridle said.
"I can't believe I didn't even lose a tooth and the doctors even got me to have a second scan because they were shocked nothing had fractured."
"Obviously it is tough mentally though, which is why I'm speaking out - I need to get the message out there that this isn't okay."
Mr Bridle said if he did not speak up about his experience, it would "damage [him] in so many other ways".
"I don't want anyone else to go through this, but it's also important to remember that not everyone is bad," he said.
The incident was reported to police who are now commencing investigations.